James Gatt

James Gatt (b.1988) is an independent curator and writer living and working on Gadigal land. He has worked closely with contemporary artists from Australia and New Zealand on projects and exhibitions since 2015, taking a conceptual approach to identify potentials for alternative models that relate to and shape contemporary art. Gatt’s research focuses predominantly on conceptual art practices and histories, social and political implications and strategies for art, and art’s facility for generating ideas and potentialities.

Gatt’s writing appears in local publications including Running Dog and VAULT Magazine. He has also contributed numerous interviews and essays to exhibition catalogues, and participated in public talks with local artists online and in galleries across Sydney. From 2015 to 2017, Gatt was founding director of Squiggle Space, a hybrid studio and project space dedicated to open-ended enquiry and critical discussion. Prior to this, Gatt worked as an educator at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. He is currently Associate Director at Sarah Cottier Gallery where he has curated exhibitions including Sculpture Salon (2018), Contemporary Recalcitrants (2019), and most recently Dialogue 2: On Hessian (2020).